The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863

Allan Kardec

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Family gathering, February 25th, 1863

Medium Mr. d’Ambel



There is currently a reoccurrence of obsession, the result of the struggle that the new ideas must inevitably face against incarnate and discarnate adversaries. Obsession, skillfully exploited by the enemies of Spiritism, is one of the most dangerous tests to be faced by the doctrine before it is established in a more stable way in the heart of the masses hence it must be fought by all possible means, and in particular by the judiciousness and energy of your earthly spiritual guides.

Mediums show up from all sides with a supposed mission, called up, as they say, to carry the flag of Spiritism and plant it in the ruins of the old world, as if we had come to destroy but we are here to build.

There isn’t a single person, however mediocre they might be, that had not yet a Spirit telling them, like Macbeth: ‘You will also be king’, and that does not consider themselves destined to a very special apostolic mission.

There aren’t many private and even familiar meetings in which there hasn’t been at least one soul that thinks a lot of herself, believing to be indispensable to the success of the cause; too pretentious to just accept the task of a normal worker that brings their stone to the building. Ah my friends! That is too much dedication for very little result! Almost every new medium is submitted to that temptation in the beginning. Some resist to that but many fail at least for some time until the time when after successive falls they come to be dissuaded.

Why does God allow such a difficult test if not to demonstrate that good and progress can never establish in your hearts without work and without the combat; if not to make the triumph of truth shinier by the difficulties of the struggle? What is it that certain Spirits want through the exaltation of pride and self-love but to hinder progress? They will unsuspectedly be the instruments of trials to give evidence to the good and the bad servants of God. A Spirit reveals the secret of transmutation of metals to one, like that medium in R…; another one reveals events that will supposedly take place like to Mr…, establishing the period, dates and the persons that will be involved in the drama; a mystifying Spirit teaches the secrets of diamond formation; to others they indicate hidden treasures, easy fortune, wonderful discoveries, glory and honor, etc. In one word, people’s ambitions and greed are skillfully exploited by mean Spirits. That is why you see those unfortunate obsessed persons everywhere, preparing to take their place in the Capitol, with such a serious and arrogant face that saddens any impartial observer.

What is the result of all of those fallacious promises? Deception, annoyance, ridicule and sometimes bankruptcy, fair punishment to the lazy pride that believes to have been chosen to do everything better than anyone, neglecting advices and forgetting the true principles of Spiritism.

Modesty is the hallmark of the mediums chosen by the good Spirits as much as pride, self-love and say mediocrity are the characters of those inspired by inferior Spirits. The former neglect communications that keep them away from the truth as much as the latter sustain the superiority of what they receive against everybody else even if that is an absurd.

It results that and according to the words given at the Parisian Society by its spiritual President, St. Louis, a true Tower of Babel is about to be erected among you. In fact, one does need to be blind or deluded in order to not acknowledge the crusade that has been launched against Spiritism by the natural adversaries of any progressive and freeing doctrine, added by the spiritual crusade directed by all of those pseudo wise Spirits, false great men, false religious and false brothers in erraticism, entering in a common cause with the earthly enemies, amidst the multitude of mediums that they have fanaticized and to whom they dictate so many false statements.

But look at what is left out of all that foundation established by ambition, self-love and envy. How many haven’t you seen falling and how many will you still see! I tell you this that every edifice that is not founded on the truth, the only solid foundation, will fall because only the truth can challenge the times and triumph over utopias.

Sincere Spiritists, have no fear for the momentary chaos. Time is not far when truth, yanked from the veils that some intend to cover it, will come out shinier than ever and its clarity will illuminate the whole world, sending its detractors back to the shadows, those who had their moment of evidence for their own confusion.

Therefore, my friends, you must defend yourselves not only against the attacks and slander of your living adversaries, but also from the dangerous maneuvers of your adversaries in the spiritual world. Strengthen yourselves through healthy studies and in particular by the practice of love and charity and recharge yourself in your prayers. God always illuminates those that dedicate themselves to the promotion of truth when acting in good faith and without any personal ambition.

Besides, Spiritists, what does it matter to you, mediums that in the end are just instruments? What you must take into account is the actual value and reach of the teachings that you receive; it is the moral purity that you are taught; it is the clarity and accuracy of the truths that are revealed to you; it is, finally, the instructions that correspond to the legitimate aspirations of elevated souls and are in agreement with the general and immutable laws of logic and universal harmony.

Inferior Spirits that take the place of apostles before their obsessed, as you know, have no scruples in taking the most venerable names; hence it would be outrageous that I, one of the last disciples of the Spirit of Truth, would be sorry for having had my modest name used by them; I then repeat what I incessantly said to my medium two years ago: Never assess a mediumistic communication by the name that signs it but only by its intrinsic content. It is urgent that you be forearmed against every publication of suspicious origin that appear now and will appear in the future, against all of those that would not have a clear and honest attitude, and rest assured that many will be produced in the fields of the enemy, in the visible as well as in the invisible world, with the objective of spreading disagreement among you.

It is up to you to be caught in that since you have all the elements need to assess them. Be you must also know that every Spirit that announces oneself as a superior Spirit and in particular with an infallibility second to none, that Spirit is, on the contrary, the opposite to everything that he announces so pretentiously.

Since the time when the kind Spirit Francois-Nicolas Madeleine alleviated part of my spiritual burden I was able to evaluate the whole Spiritist work and do the moral statistics of the workers that help in the vine of the Lord. Ah! If so many imperfect Spirits sneak in the mission that we carry I am even more sorry to attest that among our best supporters on Earth many have fallen before the weight of their tasks and gradually returned to the paths of their old weaknesses, so much so that the great ethereal souls that advised them were, since then, replaced by less pure and less perfect Spirits.

Ah! I know that virtue is difficult but we don’t ask for and we don’t want the impossible. Good will is enough to us when followed by the desire to do the best.

My friends, relaxation is pernicious in everything because much will be demanded to those that after having elevated themselves by the renunciation of their own individuality have fallen back to the cult of matter, and even allowed themselves to be driven by selfishness and self-love. Yet we pray for them and condemn nobody because we all must remember the magnificent teaching of Christ: ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’

Your followers count to the millions today. The false masks of the brothers that was recently mentioned by your momentary President fall all over. I am not recommending that your ranks may only accept the spotless and white sheep; no because the sinners are the ones that more than anybody else have the right to find refuge against their own imperfections. I advise you to be suspicious of the others, the dangerous hypocrite to whom we are tempted to place our trust in principle and at first sight. They show strict behavior and a serious and dignifying behavior to the eyes of the crowds that says: ‘These are respectable people!’ Nonetheless, perfidy and immorality sometimes hide under that appearance.

They are accessible, helpful, full of amenities; they sneak into places; voluntarily invade privacy; listen behind doors and pretend to be deaf to be able to hear even better; the present disagreements and excite and feed them; they move between opposing fields and ask about each one. What is it that this one is doing? What is the bread winning activity of the other one? Who is this person? Do you know the family? Then you see them quietly moving in the shadows and spreading little maleficence that they were able to collect, carefully poisoning them with lively slander. ‘These are rumors in which we don’t believe’, they say, bud then add: ‘Where there is smoke there is fire’, etc.

You must add the hypocrite of the spiritual world to these hypocrites of incarnation and then, my dear friends, you can see how much I am right in advising you to act, from now on, with extreme reservation and to watch out for any and every reflected enthusiasm and imprudent action.

I said you live in a time of crisis, even more difficult given malevolence, but from which you shall come out stronger, with firmness and perseverance.

The number of mediums today is incalculable and it is sad to see that some consider themselves the only ones called upon to spread the truth to the world and rejoice before banalities that they consider real monuments, poor deluded people that lower their heads under the arches of triumph, as if the truth had waited for their arrival before being announced.

Neither the strong, nor the weak, neither the educated nor the ignorant had that exclusive privilege, because it was through the intermediary of a thousand unknown voices that the truth had spread and it is exactly because of that unanimity that it was duly acknowledged.

You must count those voices; count those that listen; count in particular those whose hearts are touched by them if you want to know in which side the truth is.

Ah! If all mediums had faith! I would be the first to bow before them. But most of the time they don’t have but only the faith in themselves, such is the size of pride on Earth! No, their faith is not the one that moves mountains and that make someone walk on the water! It is the case to repeat here the maxim from the Gospel that has served as my theme since the first day I made myself heard among you: ‘For many are invited but few are chosen.’

In short, there are publications on the right, on the left, on all sides, pros and cons in all senses and in all forms; exaggerated criticism from people that know nothing about it; heated sermons from people that are afraid; to summarize I say that Spiritism is in the order of the day. I shake every brain and agitates every conscience, an exclusive privilege of great things. Everyone presents that it carries the principle of renovation that some vow to support and others fear.

But what is going to be left after all this? What shall come out of this Babel tower? A huge thing: the vulgarization of the Spiritist idea and the true doctrine!

The conflict is unavoidable because mankind is stained by a lot of pride and selfishness to accept any new truth without opposition. I even say that the conflict is necessary because it is the friction that dismount false ideas pointing out to the strength of those that resist.

Amidst this avalanche of mediocrity, impossibilities and surreal utopias the splendid truth shall spread in its greatness and magnificence.

Erastus

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